Marker for planters



O. L. SHADFORD.

MARKER FOR PLANTERS.

APPLICATIION FILED DEC. 15, 1919;

Patent ed July 6, 1920.

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awuemtoz 0. J. wgwi 0. L. SHADFORD.

MARI ER FOR PLANTERS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 15. 1919.

1,346,063. Patented uly 6, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

ORVA L. SHADFORD, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

MARKER FOR PLAN TEES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6, 1920.

Application filed December 15, 1919. Serial No. 345,065.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORVA L. SHAnFoRD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Markers for Planters; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de scription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in land marker attachments for corn planters, although it is equally well adapted to be used with any other type of planter.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a simple effective attachment of the above type which is inexpensive, yet highly effective in use; the construction be ing such that it may be made from ordinary pipes, angle irons, castings, and securing and fastening members, which parts do not require any special machining, consequently greatly reducing the cost of manufacture of the attachment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved runner or marking member to be used with the at tachment which will not interfere with the turning of the planter when it gets to the end of the field.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will. become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure l. is a plan view of a corn planter equipped with an attachment constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail perspective view, illustrating the manner in which the marker arms are mounted, the marker arm being shown in inoperative position.

Fig. 3 is a view like Fig. 2 showing the position of the marker arm in operative position. i i

Fig. 4 is a section on the plane of the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on the plane of the line i 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevation of a portion of the marker arm with the runner attached thereto. 7

7 a plan view thereof.

F 1g. 8 1s a detail perspective View of the runner or marker blade detached.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral 1 designates, as whole, a corn planter frame to forward corners of which eyes 2 are secured, and to the rear end of which the attaching member 3 is secured. This attaching member may be of any suitable formatlon, but I prefer to employ an angle iron for the purpose.

Inasmuch as the angle iron is of the same construction at both ends. and also as each marker arm and. other parts of the device are of the same construction. the description in some instances will. appear in the singular, it being understood that wherever thedescription appears in the singular, it describes all like parts of the attachment.

As shown, this angle iron is substantially longer than the width of the frame and when it is in position it extends outwardly beyond the sides of the frame. Any suitable means may be employed for retaining the member 3 on the frame, such for ex ample, a llbolt 4. and clamping plate 5. The horizontal, flange 6 of the angle iron is provided near its opposite ends with elongated. slots 7, and the vertical flange 8 serves to support a substantially L-shaped plate 9 which bolted or otherwise properly secured thereon, and which is provided with an aperture 10, the purpose of'which will hereinafter he described.

The marker arms ll. are automatically movable to operative and inoperative position. The manner in which these arms are mounted is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. As already stated in the description of the figures, the 11 is shown ineffective position in Fig. 2; and in Fig. 3 it is shown as it appears when in effective or operative position. Each arm is composed of an ordinary gas pipe or other light pipe and. the inner end thereof is bent at right angles to the body portion as shown at 12. so that it may move to the position shown in Fig. 2 and when in such position will not strike against the wheels of the machine. Secured to the portion 12 of the arm 11 is a T-memher or casting designated as a whole by 13, which includes the usual head 14 and shank 1 5 The T-member could be secured to the marker aim in any other manner, but I have round it convenient to extend the shank into the bent portion 12 of the marker arm,'and then pass a rivet or a bolt 16 therethrough, which permits disassemblmg if it should'be 'so desired or necessary- As is obvious, this T-inember 13 adapted to be disposed between the upper and lower bearing flanges 6 and 9, and when in this position the upper end or portion of the head 14 extends through the slot 7 and the lower shouldered end extends through the carrying arms to operative and inoperative position.

In addition, to the improved construction and mounting of the marker arms, I also desire to employ an improved type of runner or land marking blade which is more clearly shown in Figs. 6 to S inclusive, and I have designated it by the numeral 17. This blade is esoeeially designed to permit it to be used on either side of the planter frame, thus obviating the necessity of using a differently constructed blade for each side or compelling the use of blades in pairs as would otherwise be necessary. As

shown, each runner is constructed of a single piece of metal and includes a blade portion 18 and a shank 19 and the shank is disposed at right angles to the blade so as to permit it to besecured to the outer end of the marker arm 11. The edge Oil the blade may be sharpened to assistin cutting through the ground when it is beingused.

The shank .19 is provided with a'plurality of apertures which serve to permit use of the runner on both sides of the machine and atthesame time permit proper angling of the blade with respect to the frame so that it will slide when the planter gets to the end of the field and makes a turn. This feature will be set "l orth in detail during the courseof thei ollowing description. I prefer to make three'holes in the shank, and two of them 20, and .21, are adjacent the outer or'free endof the shank, and the other 22,'is near the blade end thereof. Such positioning of these apertures forms a substantially triangular arrangement and therebypermits proper angling of the runner for 'easy sliding thereof.

In order to obtain the desired angle of the blade, it will be seen that on the'lefthand, side of the machine I pass a pivot pin 23 through the end of the marker arm 11 and then through the aperture 22 and secure these parts together when the nut 24 is tightened on the pivot bolt. This same assembling is also "done on the right-hand side. However, on the left-hand side the bolt 25, which also extends through the marker arm, extends through the hole 21 in the shank so as to retain the blade at the angle shown in Fig. 1. On the opposite side of the machine the bolt 25 passes through the hole 20, thus properly angling the blade for effective use on this side of the machine. As is usual a chain or other flexible member 26 is connected to the outer ends of the arms 11 so as to cause them to automatically move to operative and inoperative'positions; I have shown this'chain as being connected to the eye of the pivot bolt 23. In Fig. 7 I have shown the marker blade as'it appears when it isused on the right-hand marker arm.

In order to illustrate the operation of the attachment, we will assume thatthe planter is traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow. When traveling in this direction the marker arm on the right will be in operative position. The driver in reaching the end of the field turns toward the right and such turning causesthe chain 26 to become slack. This slack in the chain is taken up by the marker carrying arm on the left, which'drops toward the ground by gravity. Of course, during further turning of the machine the left-hand arm will necessarily have to travel through a substantially circular line and the marker blade 17 which is now in contact with the ground will drag through the dirt. To permit it to slide readily rather than drag, it will be seen that the angle at which it is disposedwith respect to the arm 11 will enable it to slide easily through the ground. The markerblade on the right-hand side is also properly angled to permit it to slide freely when it is in a position like the lefthand marker blade. In both instances, how-' ever, the marker blades have an action similar to the moldboard of a plow, that is, the manneri'n which theyare angled causes the dirt tobe deflectedoutwardly and away from the planter, permits easy sliding and tends to hold them in the ground.

My attachment works automatically, it possesses all of the advantages of similar devices known to me, and it is designed for simplicity in construction, all the parts being of'such construction that no special machining thereof is necessary, consequently the expense of manufacturing the attach ment is a great deal less than other similar attachments.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention here-in shown and described is to be taken as a preferred form of the same, and that variousv changes in the shape-{size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims. j

I claim:

1. A marker attachment for planters comprising a marker carrying arm, an attaching member including upper and lower bearings, said upper bearing being provided with an elongated slot and said lower bearing being provided with an aperture disposed beneath said slot, and a T-member carried by the inner end of the marker carrying arm, and adapted for disposition between the upper and lower bearings of the attaching member, the lower portion of the T-member being adapted to rotate in said aperture and the upper portion being rotatable and slidable in said slot.

2. A marker attachment for planters comprising a pair of marker carrying arms, each being composed of a single piece of pipe, an attaching member including upper and lower bearing flanges, the upper flange being provided with elongated slots adjacent its end and the lower flange being provided with an aperture directly beneath each slot, and a T-member including a shank and. a head, the shank being secured in the pipe, and the head being adapted to be disposed between the bearing flangesoi the attaching member, the lower portion of the head being shouldered, whereby it may be mounted for rotation in the aperture.

3. In a marker attachment for planters, the combination with a planter frame; of an angle iron carried by the rear part of the frame and extending beyond the sides thereof, said angle iron including a horizontal and a vertical flange, the horizontal flange being provided with elongated slots adjacent its opposite ends, a second horizontal flange carried by the vertical flange, the sec ond named flange being provided with apertures directly beneath the slots in the other horizontal flange, a marker carrying arm, the inner end thereof being disposed at right angles to the body portion thereof, and a T-niember carried by the inner end of the marker carrying arm, the T-meinber being rotatable in said aperture and rotatable and slidable in said slot, whereby when the marker arm is parallel with the side of the planter frame, the right angular portion thereof will be disposed back of said vertical flange.

4. In a marker attachment for corn planters, the combination with a planter frame; of an angle iron carried by the rear portion of the frame and extending outwardly beyond the sides thereof, said angle iron including a horizontal flange and a vertical flange, said horizontal flange being provided with elongated slots adjacent its opposite ends, substantially L-shaped plates carried by the vertical flange, a portion of each plate being parallel with the horizontal flange and being provided with apertures directly beneath the slots in the horizontal flange, a pair of marker carrying arms, each a 111 having its inner end bent at right angles to the body portion, and T-members secured to said bent end of the marker arm and rotatable in the apertures in the L- shaped plates and rotatable and slidable in the slots of the horizontal flange.

The combination of a runner and a marker arm, the runner being composed of a single piece oi metal and including a shank and a blade, the shank bearing against the marker arm, said shank being provided with two apertures adjacent its free end and a third. aperture adjacent its blade end, a pivot pin extending through the marker arm and last named aperture, and a removable clamping member carried by the marker arm and insertible through either one of the first named apertures, whereby the runner may be angled for use on either side of a planting machine.

6. The combination of a runner, and a marker arm, the runner being composed of a sir le piece of metal and including a blade and a shank portion, said blade being dis posed at approximate right angles to the shank the latter having three apertures therein, two of the apertures being disposed adjacent the free end thereof and the other being disposed adjacent the blade adjoining end thereof, a removable pivot pin extending through. said. marker arm and the last named aperture, and a removable bolt also extending through the marker arm and one oi the first mentioned apertures, whereby the runner may be angled for use on either side of the planter frame.

in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

ORVA L. SHADFORD. 

